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Daily Dog Training Games Part II

Daily Training Games

Daily Dog Training Games Part II

Ready for a ton of training fun? Find all games here:

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Welcome to day 2 of our Daily Training Games! Today we want to talk about Anticipation.

Anticipation is a very important, but often underestimated aspect of motivating your dog and making rewards even more rewarding.

 

 

Why Would You Need To Do That?

 

reward dog

I see the mistake that a reward (like a treat) is given to the dog in a very distracted manner pretty often – the owner is already looking away from the dog and focusing on the next task on hand, or listening to their instructor, and generally mentally absent.

However, the way in which you deliver the reward is a huge opportunity to make your dog enjoy both training and his reinforcer much more than before.

Your dog’s task is finished when he has done a behavior correctly and is ready to get his payment. Your task however is only beginning – you need to make handing over that payment as wonderful as possible.

dogs play on beach

 

If you watch dogs play together, you will actually find that they use a lot of anticipation in their games. The way that two dogs play bow in front of each other? Building anticipation.

The way that dogs slowly “stalk” and crouch up on each other? Building anticipation.

The more anticipation you build up in playing, the more fun your dog will have when the tension is released and he can have the food, chase, tug game etc. that he was waiting for.

Dogs actually get really good at waiting and anticipating – you will see that if you play these games a lot with your dog, he will start to look back and forth between you and his reward and quite enjoy the delay and build-up.

So, let’s start – before we do, make sure to sign up so you don’t miss any new games 🙂

Anticipation

 

Have fun with this game, and I will see you back here tomorrow 🙂

 

Want to see all games? Here you go:

See The Whole Training Game Library